The present invention relates to electronic mail and similar forms of communication, and more particularly to a communications device and method for electronic mail or e-mail address inspection to detect ambiguities or similar improper addresses.
Many e-mail composing programs or the like have a predictive input text feature, whereby the user enters only the first several characters of a destination address and the software completes the address by matching against recently used addresses or addresses in an electronic address book, list of contacts or the like. While this feature can be a great time saver in some cases, it can also present a risk of sending an e-mail to the wrong person, possibly with undesirable consequences. When the user input is ambiguous or there may be multiple possible addresses corresponding to the partial input, the software may present a list of potential matches from which the user may select. A wrong address or an address that the user does not want the e-mail going to may inadvertently be selected from the list. In such situations, sensitive information may be accidentally sent to the wrong recipient, such as a recipient outside the user's domain, organizational network or the like.